1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to competitive athletic events, and more particularly to an event wherein one or more mounted riders cull one or more animals (e.g., cattle) from a herd or pen at one end of an arena, and herd or drive the animal(s) through a course or the length of the arena, and through a goal or into a pen at the opposite end of the arena. The event, which I prefer to call the “Cow Catch Event,” is timed, with certain time credits or penalties administered for various actions by the competitors during the event. While the present event may be held in connection with a rodeo and its series of events, it may also be held as a stand-alone competition or event.
2. Description of the Related Art
While most competitive athletic events originate from leisure games or activities, western heritage events (such as those performed at rodeos and similar competitions) have strong ties to actual tasks required of the cowboy or ranch hand in working cattle, breaking and training horses, and other duties required in such work. The age of the cowboy and cattle drives in the late 1800s is still looked upon as a romantic era in the U.S., but most of the tasks required of the cowboy in that era must still be performed today, depending upon the conditions and environment. Accordingly, such events have proven to be popular competitive activities for the skilled performer, as well as being a popular spectator event.
As a result of the desire to demonstrate and/or test the skills needed of a skilled and experienced cowboy or ranch hand, the rules of various western heritage events tend to require contestants to demonstrate such skills as saddle and bareback riding, and individual and team roping, as well as bull riding and various types of racing events. Most all such events are timed, with riding events requiring the rider to remain seated for a minimum time and with the lowest elapsed time winning in roping and racing events, depending upon any penalties which might be assessed.
One activity or task which is required of the cowboy in the classic cattle roundup or cattle drive environment, is the selecting or cutting of one or more head of cattle from a herd, and driving those selected cattle to a specific location to be caught or contained for branding, veterinary treatment, loading on a vehicle for transport, or other purpose as required. Yet, this specific task has no direct competitive counterpart in the various western heritage or rodeo events known to the present inventor. While such events as individual and team calf roping and steer roping test the abilities of the contestants to capture and secure an animal, those rules do not require the animal to be herded from a first designated location to a designated second or goal location, through a predetermined course or route.
Accordingly, the present invention responds to this need, by providing a competitive western heritage ranch sports event which requires the contestants to separate one or more herd animals (e.g., cattle) from a group or herd, drive the selected animal(s) from the pen for the length of the arena, and through or into a designated goal gate or enclosure. In one embodiment of the present event, obstacles may be placed in the arena, around which the animals must be herded. The present competitive event thus tests multiple skills of the contestants, including horsemanship, teamwork where two (or possibly more) contestants are working as a team, roping skills where they are used, and perhaps other skills as well. The present event thus adds a realistic series of tests of the skills of the cowboy or ranch hand in catching and/or herding cattle or other herd animals, as is often required in the field.
A discussion of the related art of which the present inventor is aware, and its differences and distinctions from the present invention, is provided below.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,545,407 issued on Dec. 8, 1970 to William T. Moore, titled “Animal Pen,” describes an enclosure constructed of a series of identical fence sections. The enclosure is partitioned by additional sections, with a series of swinging gates between sections to control the movement of animals therebetween. Animals are herded into progressively smaller or narrower sections until they travel down a control chute, where they may be confined for branding, etc. or moved to a loading platform for transport. The Moore disclosure does not describe any form of competitive activity associated with his pen or enclosure, and the generally central division of his enclosure teaches away from the necessarily open central area of an arena, which is required for operation of the present western heritage ranch sports competitive event.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,711,098 issued on Jan. 16, 1973 to Kenneth J. McCord, titled “Portable, Mechanical Lasso Training Apparatus,” describes a system comprising a winch and a mechanical simulated animal resembling a small cow or calf. The simulated animal target includes a mechanism which may be used if desired to alter its path from a straight line, when towed by the winch. The winch draws the simulated cattle target over the surface, with a person practicing roping attempting to lasso the winch drawn target as it is drawn over the surface. McCord does not provide any rules for a competitive event in his disclosure, nor does he provide any form of enclosure, course, or actual cattle or other herd animals which must be herded over a predetermined course, as is done according to the competitive event of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,779 issued on May 12, 1981 to Jackie L. English, titled “Animated Roping Training Apparatus,” describes an apparatus intended for the same purpose as that of the McCord '098 U.S. Patent discussed immediately above. The English apparatus differs from the McCord device, in that English secures the object simulated animal to the horse upon which the roper is mounted, via a rope and a series of pulleys, and uses the motion of the horse to move the simulated animal away from the horse and mounted rider. While English provides some additional mechanisms for the simulated animal to provide further realism in its motion, he does not provide any form of enclosure or competitive rules for an event involving the herding and confining of live animals, as provided by the present competitive event.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,553 issued on Feb. 21, 1984 to Hazel M. Moore, titled “Cowboy Rodeo Contest Game,” describes a board game in which the conventional rodeo events, i.e., saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, and barrel racing, are provided. The Moore game is strictly a leisure pastime board game, with no athletic skills or abilities to perform any of the listed activities or events, being required for play of the game. Moreover, Moore does not list any event which appears to relate to the skills required for culling or separating one or more cattle from a herd, and then herding or driving those cattle from one area to another via a predetermined route, in accordance with the rules of the present competitive western heritage event.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,076 issued on Oct. 2, 1990 to Patrick R. Snorgrass et al., titled “Mechanical Roping Calf,” describes another device serving the same function as those of the McCord '098 and English '779 U.S. Patents, described further above. The Snorgrass et al. device includes a central pylon, from which an elongated rod extends radially with the mechanical simulated calf secured to the distal end thereof. The mechanical calf has a electric motor therein for motive power, with power being supplied through conductors extending from the pylon through the radial rod. Snorgrass et al. also provide switches to shut off the device in the event the head or rear legs are successfully roped. While it thus appears that the Snorgrass et al. apparatus might provide training for the team roping type event, Snorgrass et al. do not disclose any competitive rules nor apparatus for competition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,629 issued on Oct. 26, 1993 to Jerry Paterson, titled “Rider Remote-Controlled Cutting Horse Trainer,” describes a mechanical calf simulation which moves back and forth on tracks. While the mechanical calf is actuated by cables which run along the tracks to produce the desired motion, control of the device is via a radio control transmitter which is operated by the mounted rider. The object of the Paterson device is to train the horse in the nearly automatic movements required of a cutting horse in the separation and control of a cow or calf from a herd. While the Paterson apparatus might be used to train cutting horses which might then be used by riders in the present competitive event, there is no disclosure by Paterson of any form of competitive event, or rules therefor, with his apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,817 issued on Jul. 5, 1994 to Steven K. Huffman, titled “Animal Training Apparatus,” describes an apparatus serving the same purpose as that of the above noted Paterson '629 U.S. Patent. The Huffman device differs in its structure and principle of operation, by incorporating a pneumatic tube with a magnetically attractive piston therein. A magnetically attractive, external carriage rides on the tube, with a simulated calf suspended therefrom. When air is introduced to either end of the tube, the piston is pushed through the tube, thereby causing the carriage and simulated calf to move in concert with the piston. A trainer mounted on the horse being trained, controls the apparatus via radio, similarly to the control of the Paterson '629 device. Huffman does not disclose any rules for a competitive event.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,941 issued on Mar. 21, 1995 to Rodney L. Paulson, titled “Method For Conducting Racing Events,” describes a system wherein competitors are placed in lanes of a race track in accordance with predetermined speed rankings. A series of heats or races are run, with the competitors being placed in different lanes for each heat or race. Winning times are determined for each race or heat, with the times for each competitor being compared against one another to determine the overall winner. While the Paulson system is applicable to speed competitions of various sorts, Paulson does not disclose any apparatus which is adaptable for use an any form of western heritage or rodeo competition, nor does he provide any rules for such a competition. Paulson is thus not particularly closely related to the invention of the present western heritage ranch sports competitive event.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,293,548 issued on Sep. 25, 2001 to John Swyers et al., titled “Method And System For Conducting Races,” describes a system in which racers are ranked according to qualifying, with the race order being set in inverse order of qualifying. Competitors are then awarded points according to the number of other competitors passed during the event, and finishing points according to the order of finish. All of the qualifying, passing, and finishing points are combined for each competitor according to a mathematical formula, with the best score as determined by the formula, determining the winner of the event. The Swyers et al. system thus compares more closely to the system disclosed by Paulson in his '941 U.S. Patent, discussed immediately above, than it does to the present western heritage competitive event.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/108,584 published on Aug. 15, 2002 to Alexander van der Lely et al., titled “Arrangement For And A Method Of Managing A Herd Of Animals,” describes an automated system particularly adapted for use in automated milking barns and similar dairy or other farms. The van der Lely et al. system utilizes a complex series of automated detectors and a central processing system, which has been programmed with the characteristics of the animals using the facility. For example, when a dominant animal attempts to block other animals from entering a feeding station, the system precludes the entry of other animals into the system until the dominant animal has cleared, thus streamlining the entire operation. While the van der Lely et al. system may be advantageous for a dairy operation or the like, it does not provide any form of rules or apparatus adaptable to a western heritage event, as provided by the present invention.
Finally, a printout from the Internet site WWW PENDLETONROUNDUP.COM/EVENTS.HTM, located and printed on Sep. 25, 2002, provides a description of a series of rodeo events which take place annually at the Pendleton, Oregon rodeo. The various events, i.e., bareback, saddle, and bull riding, calf, team, and steer roping, and various racing events, are well known throughout the rodeo industry and are accepted events of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys' Association (PRCA). Of these various events, the team roping event is most closely related to the present western heritage competitive event. However, team roping differs in many aspects from the present event, in that team roping releases a single cow or steer from an enclosure, with the team only allowed to start after the animal when it reaches a certain point out of the starting gate or enclosure. The team does not select and cut or cull an animal from a herd, as is the case with the present event. Moreover, the elapsed time in a team roping event ends when both the header and heeler (the contestants roping the head and hind legs of the animal, respectively) have successfully roped the animal. There is no provision for herding the animal the length of the arena or about a predetermined course, nor for herding the animal through a goal gate or into a goal enclosure or pen, as is required in accordance with the rules of the present western heritage ranch sports event. Thus, team roping, as well as other roping events, test only a fraction of the skills required by cowboys in the herding and control of animals, whereas the present competitive event tests a much larger part of those skills. In addition, while roping is permitted in accordance with the rules of the event of the present invention, and in fact results in a better score if accomplished successfully, there is no requirement for such roping according to the rules of the present event. In fact, the competitors in the present event are not required to carry ropes, if they do not wish to.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a competitive western heritage ranch sports event solving the aforementioned problems is desired.